S.D. success story: The making of a medical school, 50 years later

Health, political leaders found innovative ways to create four-year MD program

South Dakota had a problem.

For years, the state’s medical school at the University of South Dakota consisted of a two-year program. Following those two years, medical students would transfer out of the school to a four-year program, where they would complete their medical degree and go on to a residency. Usually, they would transfer to one of the degree-granting medical schools in nearby states.

The arrangement worked fine for decades. But by the early 1970s, recalls Ted Muenster, who was serving then as Gov. Richard Kneip’s chief of staff, it was getting more difficult to find places to transfer students. Those other state schools wanted to keep openings for their own four-year students.

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The situation started a debate. On one hand, the state could shutter the two-year program and hope the medical community had the wherewithal to recruit enough physicians. Or the state could start its own four-year program. But that could prove costly.

“We wouldn’t have a medical school of any kind unless we could do it on our own,” Muenster told The Dakota Scout.

Ultimately, South Dakota chose the latter.

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